Phanniemay 2014
by Linzerj
Summary: Drabbles for this year's phanniemay prompts. Now playing: free day. "They should all hate him. But they also owe him their afterlives." (Now complete)
1. Space

Hey phandom! Figured I'd get back into a writing mood with some drabbles for phanniemay! I managed to locate the calendar of activities on tumblr despite not even having a tumblr account, so here it goes!

Started a little late, hopefully I'll catch up, or if not then at least you have these to look forward to for a while...

Disclaimer: I don't own _Danny Phantom_ or any associated characters. Any AU's mentioned that sound familiar I probably don't own as well. _Danny Phantom_ is property of Butch Hartman and Nickelodeon.

* * *

He'd always wanted to be an astronaut.

The stars glistened in the sky, twinkling, warm, inviting. He wanted to soar amongst them, lost in the outermost reaches of the cosmos, never coming down from his high.

His parents understood his fantastical dream. They encouraged it, even. And Jazz never mentioned how the statistics were stacked against him. She saw his passion for maths and science. She knew he would someday reach the stars.

Outer space was dark, endless, cold, and more than capable of killing him if he wasn't careful. But he wanted to be there, see it, discover something new in the vast void and just be able to be himself.

...None of them ever imagined he'd get there quite like this.


	2. Favorite Episode

He could feel the vein in his forehead bulging as he growled, stalking through his majestic hallways with his cape swishing softly behind him. Daniel, Daniel, Daniel... the boy was a thorn in his side, and he wanted him removed.

Of course...he still wanted the boy as his son. As a half-ghost companion, to keep him company in his loneliness. He deserved that, didn't he?

Vlad was a very...meticulous man. He wanted things, and he usually got those things. Maddie - and now Daniel - were the only two things he could not acquire. (Well, besides the Packers...)

As he let himself phase into his lab, he grinned, fangs glinting in the low light. He _would_ have Daniel...one way or another.


	3. Ghost King

He didn't share Simba's enthusiasm for becoming king of the Ghost Zone.

If Danny had known that defeating Pariah Dark meant he would suddenly become the new king of ghosts, maybe he would have let someone else do it. Heck, even Vlad was probably better cut out for the job than he was.

(In fact, the younger halfa had insisted that Vlad be king, since he had locked the sarcophagus and therefore ended Pariah's reign. But the older hybrid insisted that Danny had done all the work, and therefore Danny was rightfully king.)

Now, here he stood, gulping in anticipation. Off to the side he caught a glimpse of blue and purple and shining red eyes - _Clockwork_ - before the figure disappeared from view. He quivered.

Princess Dorathea was there, as were Wulf and Cujo and Johnny 13 and Kitty and Ghost Writer and Frostbite and Pandora. They weren't all friends, per say, more like allies and mentors and ghosts he could trust, but he had wanted them there in lieu of Sam and Tucker and Jazz and his parents and even Valerie.

(_Humans aren't allowed to the ceremony, little halfa._)

But Vlad and Danielle were there as well, and he and Vlad were enemies most of the time but Vlad still had powerful influence on the Ghost Zone inhabitants, and he was counting on that to keep him from becoming a full ghost for another couple of years.

(_Only full ghosts can be king of GHOSTS, little man. They're going to want to kill your human half._)

He shuddered under the weight of the ring, quivered under the power of the crown, but held himself high as he began announcing who was who in his new little court. Ghost Writer was his official scribe - mostly because he didn't know anyone else fit for the job, plus it got the ghost out of Walker's prison and he figured he owed the guy after last Christmas - while Dorathea pledged her kingdom's alliance and even Vlad swore an oath to be an ally. Pandora and Frostbite were his official advisers, he named Danielle his heir (for the moment, he promised), Johnny 13 and Kitty were crowned a knight and lady (to their complete and utter surprise, but they had been cutting him a break and Kitty referred to him as a _friend_ once and that was good enough for him), and Wulf and Cujo were granted immunity from Walker.

(The white ghost twitched in back. He'd made an enemy of the warden, but he was king now so why should he really care?)

A few congratulations rang out - and Poindexter appeared as most began to leave, and Danny was honestly surprised to see the younger ghost. But he had a look in his eye, and while Danny thanked him for the congratulations he caught the underlying message.

_(They want to kill your human half._)

Danny sucked in a breath as he let his human half wash back over him, as he created his own portal back to the human world.

(_And if you're not careful they'll kill your girlfriend too._)


	4. Transformation

The first transformation was painful, in a nutshell.

His body burned, and all he could do was scream. His molecules were rearranging – he could _feel_ it happening – and then he felt his heart stop. His lungs stopped cooperating. Blood drained away, replaced by ectoplasm – and then his organs began to work again, hours (seconds?) later, blood returning and mixing with the ectoplasm. Some new organ, he thought, sat just below his heart, taking up barely any room at all, but he could feel it there and it was _terrifying._

He stumbled out of the portal and stopped breathing again as he took it all in.

..

Any following transformation was not as painful, not as drawn out. That first month, whenever it happened it usually was accompanied with a stab of pain in his chest. He _died_ with every transformation, every flash of those white rings.

Once he had a directive, a drive to protect, it lessened a bit. But it was still there, even after mastering his ice core: an uncomfortable pinprick in his chest, his heart stopping every single time.

He bore through it, if only to protect the ones he loved.


	5. Underappreciated

She looked out of her mansion and wondered why they couldn't see.

None of them would be here now, if it wasn't for him.

But they hunt him like he's an _animal_, but he's _not_ and _why can't they see that?_

…It's not even that they have to like him. But they could at least stop for once and appreciate his efforts.

..

He looks up from his PDA and wonders why he hopes in them, sometimes.

They don't understand, apparently, that despite all they do to drag him down he's going to keep coming back up to help them.

He doesn't do it for the appreciation. None of them do. But recognition every once in a while would be nice.

It would certainly help them sleep at night.

..

She will look down into the lab and wonder why they can't figure it out.

Their son, their only son, has never asked to be the center of everything, and despite it all he is but no one even realizes it.

She will never understand why that is.

Beneath it all he is still her little brother. Beneath the glowing exterior, or the ragged clothes that took a beating for some other nerd, is the heart of a true hero. The heart that will always be there, somehow, despite everything…

And no one will ever appreciate it like they do.


	6. Anniversary

He looked at the clock and sighed as the second hand ticked away. Another year, another milestone for being alive.

Ten years, now. Ten years since the accident, ten years since Danny Phantom made his debut, ten years _right to the second_ since he hit the button and solidified his fate.

He wonders how he's still here.

Each death-day marks a great occasion. He's always left wondering as to whether or not he'll see the next one come to pass.


	7. Secret Trio (Crossover)

_An age-accurate secret trio, inspired by the comic of the same name by becca-draws-stuff. Yeah. That's all._

* * *

Danny skids to a stop in mid-air as the shape of a dragon suddenly looms over him. Instantly he is looking for an amulet, like those of Aragon and Dorathea, in order to stop it, but then he realizes there is no ghostly glow.

The red-and-yellow dragon growls, breathes a puff of smoke, and then seems to relax. "You," it mumbles. "Phantom, right? Why are you in my city?"

"New York is _your_ city?" Danny is confused, sure, but it's more _why choose this city as a territory_ more than _why is there a dragon in front of me_ confusion at this point. He's snapped out of his train of thought, though, by a confused sounding voice off to his left.

"Um, okay. Hi. Please don't eat me."

He instantly recognizes the voice – it's that purple-haired teen he'd met on the streets no more than three hours ago, when he'd helped the younger boy – Randy, wasn't it? – with directions. Curiosity now overcomes him as he turns to face that same teen – oh, yeah, the same posture and lanky limbs and everything – clad in a ninja suit.

Next to him, the dragon growls low in his throat. "Oh, great. Norisu ninja. More importantly than Phantom here, why are _you_ in my city."

"Uh," the ninja stammers, "I, um…class field trip?" It's a question, and Danny has to resist the urge to laugh. He remembers when those excuses still worked, years ago when he was fourteen and just starting out.

The dragon, apparently, seems to relate, because he snorts out a laugh and relaxes again. "Sure, kid, whatever you say. Just try not to muck up my city, a'ight?"

"Sure, Mr. Dragon sir," the ninja stammers, and suddenly he's muttering 'smoke bomb' and disappearing in a cloud of red smoke. Danny turns to the dragon as the beast faces him now, and offers a shrug as he rushes to place the familiar voice.

"I'd offer the same excuse but I highly doubt you'd buy it."

"Touché." The dragon sighs again, and suddenly Danny thinks back to that Chinese man he'd met at some weird electronics shop – ah, what was his name? Jacob? Jack? Blake?

"Just don't muck up my city either," the dragon mutters, golden eyes glittering as he moves to take off.

"No problem…" he grins as suddenly the name comes to him. "Jake."

The dragon turns, startled by the obviously correct name, and Danny laughs and floats off, disappearing into invisibility as the dragon flaps his wings and begins to chase after him.

"What – how – _Phantom!"_

He's sure his continuing laughter gives him away, but he doesn't really care and he doesn't even spare the ninja more than a glance as he regains visibility for a moment to shout, "Stay safe Randy!" as he floats by the startled teen. It's just good to find others like him and be able to just not care about his secret for once.


	8. Desiree

She just wanted her deepest desires realized.

It was all snatched away in an instant.

If she can't get what she wants, then _no one else can._

She takes her curse and twists it on others.

No one can be happy until she is happy.


	9. Time Travel

One of his favorite TV shows growing up had been the classic _Doctor Who _series.

It'd been rebooted recently, and he was keeping up with it (David Tennant made a great Time Lord), but now that he was a half ghost sometimes it made him…wonder.

Clockwork could travel through time. It was his shtick, sure, but how could he be sure, any day, that this _was_ reality and not some alternate timeline suddenly created by a random event in his life which forced the ghost of time to split the worlds?

How could he be sure of any of it, now?

Time travel was not a fantasy anymore. What other things would awaken now that he'd opened the pit?


	10. Spectra

A light sigh escaped her lips as she slid on her signature sunglasses.

Penelope Spectra was a brilliant child psychologist. Her small Montana hometown appreciated her work with their troubled youngsters, especially with all the horror they were exposed to nowadays via the news.

The schools shared her as a counselor, and she went to either the elementary, middle, or high school on any given day as an outlet for kids to just sit with someone and talk about their problems.

Penelope was a beautiful woman on top of being brilliant, and she was well aware of it as well. Thirty-five had come and people still told her she barely looked a day over twenty. She never flaunted that beauty, though, and she took pride to note that several of the more attractive girls in the high school didn't let their looks go to their heads either; instead, they followed her example and were nice to all the girls in the school.

Life was good. Until it wasn't.

She'd been selfless and decided to push a sweet little first-grader she'd been talking to out of the way of an oncoming car. He had been aware of it, but he had tripped over an innocent-looking stick jutting out into the middle of the road and was teetering as he got to his feet, and he looked up and his deer in the headlights expression almost killed her more than the actual impact.

Her last thought was who would act as a grief counselor now.

..

Spectra remembered her name, and remembered flashes of her old life, which was more than most ghosts could say. She couldn't remember what it was that killed her, but she did recall working as a psychiatrist for children.

But because her form fed on misery in order to stay stable in her human guise, she twisted her life's passion into her afterlife's obsession.

Penelope was no more. Spectra ruled now.


	11. Moms

Danny and Jazz, for Mother's Day, order a ghost-shaped cake from the bakery and decorate it with little hearts and flowers and scribble _We Love You Mom_ in the center. They present it to her along with their handmade present: a guide to all the known ghosts of the Zone. (They left a little note from themselves and Phantom in the back, claiming that Phantom was a big help and that maybe, if she ever feels generous, maybe he'll meet with her and talk with her about the Zone in more depth so long as she doesn't blast him to smithereens.)

Her mom is done reading the book by eight that night and asks them about their relationship to Phantom, if they knew how dangerous that was, and they say that they know but Jazz makes up some story that she talked to him as a counselor figure and he's really just scared and confused and that he just died really recently and his mom doesn't even know and thinks he just ran away, and it brings tears to Maddie's eyes. It shouldn't, because Phantom is still a ghost, but a mother and son separated on Mother's Day just doesn't seem fair.

(Danny doesn't have the guts to reveal that Phantom is really him yet. If she accepts Phantom's offer, though, he'll get to it eventually.)

..

Sam hates everything her mother pushes on her, but she's still her mother and Sam can at least appreciate the effort.

Her present for her mother is to wear one of the darker pink shirts and a black skirt with pink flower designs on it her mother got her for her birthday the other month, along with ballet flats instead of her combat boots. It's still not her thing, but at least she's making an attempt. Her mother smiles at it though, and it makes it totally worthwhile.

..

Tucker gets his mom gift certificates to every online store he can think of that she would use. His mom laughs, but accepts the gift with a hug nonetheless. His crudely hand-drawn card is a feat in and of itself, and it makes him smile to know that his mother really does appreciate what he does.

..

Valerie lays a single red rose on the gravestone and then collapses into her dad's arms, sobbing about life being unfair and unaware of the ghostly shadow that smiles sadly at the scene.


	12. Death

He shudders, looking up into glowing red eyes hidden by a veil of black hair and a dark grey cloak. The pretty face is misleading, he thinks fleetingly. Death should not be so welcoming.

Yet here she is, staring at him with a curious expression on her face.

"Daniel Fenton," she says, ancient voice echoing. "Or do you prefer Danny Phantom?" He doesn't have time to answer – as if he could, star struck as he is – before she continues, "It doesn't matter, I suppose. You're one and the same, now."

Then she's smiling, and Danny gets the feeling he should run but his body is _not cooperating_. "I'm still surprised at how well you've avoided me, little ghostling, without even knowing about me. It is an admirable feat indeed. The only other to have accomplished this was Vladimir Masters, or Vlad Plasmius…though he surrendered his soul to me in search of peace quite some time ago after his exile to the stars."

Danny is gulping, now, because she is pulling out a scythe and _oh gosh she's going to kill me_ and he flinches, and Death pauses at his now terrified expression.

"Relax, child," she soothes, and suddenly the air around him feels relaxed and peaceful and he relaxes his stance just slightly, still not trusting whatever she is about to do. "I will not take your soul – not until you ask me to." And she is holding the scythe out to him, the weapon glowing a faint green.

He takes it, hesitantly, and watches as it flares with power in his grasp. "It's yours to keep," she explains as he examines every inch of it. "You see, ghosts which escape the Zone through your portal are really running from me." She chuckles as he looks up, eyes wide. "What, did you think Walker ruled the Zone, or Pariah back when he was king? Not even Clockwork challenges my rule of this place, though he is powerful enough that he makes his own rules. The Observants are the only things keeping me in line, much like with him." She's smiling again, and he shivers despite himself. "But _you_, young halfa, _you_ they cannot touch. I am trusting you to be the link between our world and the human world, moreso than your current patrols of your city allow. You will find wayward ghosts who have escaped without my permission – and you _will_ be able to tell if a ghost has my permission or not – and you can use your scythe to return them here quickly and more efficiently than your thermos. Furthermore," and here she smiles again, but it's a sweeter smile this time, "you will be able to continue living as a halfling until you wish to move on, and even then you will be allowed to see your family and friends whenever you wish."

"I – what?" It's the most intelligible thing he can say at the moment, because what she's saying just sounds ridiculous and he can't really process it, not yet. Death laughs, and it's a melodious sound, but at the same time the shivers are back.

"Oh, Danny." Suddenly she's gone, and he's sitting back on his bed like he was before the world faded to black and he looked Death in the eyes for the first time, but her voice still lilts on a fading breeze. "Your family did not know what they were doing when they created that portal. This is your chance to fulfill your ghost half's obsession and set everything right."


	13. Childhood

Danny smiles at the girl who had blonde hair yesterday and has black hair today, even if he is a little nervous. Behind him, Tucker is fidgeting; he never was very comfortable around girls, even though he knew they didn't have cooties. "Hi, I'm Danny, and that's Tucker! What's your name?"

"Sam," the girl replies, not smiling back but instead arching an eyebrow, as if waiting for a certain response.

"…Isn't that a boy's name?"

Sam sighs, like she knew it, but she's caught off guard when Danny grins. "That's really cool! And hey, why did your hair change color? Yesterday it was yellow."

The nine-year-old shrugged. "It reminded me of my parents too much. They want me to like pink and flowers and unicorns. But I like black and animals and real life stuff more. In fact, I'm becoming a vegetarian."

"What's that mean?" Tucker asks quietly. Danny nods, eager to find out more.

Sam smiles, slightly. "It means I'm not gonna eat meat, and things that come from animals. I'll just eat plants."

Tucker makes a face. "Yeah, but…meat is great!"

"Tucker, quiet!" Danny says, turning to his tech-savvy friend. "She can do whatever she wants."

Sam smiles, and for once it's a genuine smile, not the fake smiles they've seen her flash to the other kids in their fourth grade class. "Thanks. Um…do you guys wanna be friends?"

"Totally!" Danny says, excited, and Tucker nods in consent.

A friendship to last the ages is born.


	14. Guys in White

"That movie _Men in Black_ is totally inaccurate."

"Affirmative, Agent O. For one thing, our suits are white, not black."

"For another, everyone knows that aliens don't exist. Ghosts, though, Agent K…"

"Exactly. Stupid Hollywood never could get anything right."


	15. Unlucky

Johnny was called 13 because of his horrible, rotten, never-any-good luck.

He still doesn't know how he managed to find Kitty. She's the best thing that's ever happened to him.

He dreads the day when his luck catches up to him and snatches her away.


	16. Stuck

Phantom and the Red Huntress glared at Clockwork, who was currently in his child form laughing harder than he'd laughed in a long time.

"This isn't funny, Clockwork!" Phantom groaned as Valerie muttered a curse under her helmet. "Can you get this gunk off, _please?!_"

"Why on Earth," Clockwork gasps around his giggles, "would I do that, and ruin a perfectly good chance for your friends to blackmail you?!"

"Oh don't you dare!" Valerie growls. "I don't care if you're the master of time or not, there is no way I'm letting the whole town see me stuck to Phantom by some ectoplasmic goop!"

Clockwork just laughs and the next thing they know, they're back in Amity Park in front of a confused Sam and Tucker, who instantly burst out laughing.

"I hate my life right now," Valerie mutters.

"I hate my afterlife, if that counts," Danny adds. "Now would you two stop laughing and get us unstuck?"

"No way," Tucker wheezes, "this is going all over the internet!"

"_TUCKER!"_


	17. Grown Up

When he grew up, he wanted to be an astronaut.

Tucker was going to be some big shot computer programmer or inventor.

Sam was going to be president of an environmental organization that made actual changes in the Earth's enconomy.

Jazz was going to be a world famous psychologist.

They didn't get to grow up, though.

He is the only one of them left, technically, but his soul is twisted and broken beyond repair.

He has grown up and become the monster he feared as a child.


	18. Fantasy

Sam scowls at the fluffy pink princess dress that has been forced upon her. The crown glittering mockingly on her head only furthers her annoyance.

"Why is it," she growls as Dora sheepishly offers another apology, "that girls think of _this_ as a fantasy? This is torture! How do you stand it?"

Dorathea shrugs. "Smile and put on a pretty face," the dragon princess replies, "and shove the pain down until it's safe to cry."


	19. Wulf

No one is quite sure how Wulf came to exist. He just…showed up in the Ghost Zone one day. That was part of the reason Walker was always after him so adamantly.

Odder than his appearance, even odder than his ability to tear portals into the real world with his claws and rip ghosts from overshadowed humans, was the fact that he could not speak English. When they died, English seemed to be the default language everyone spoke, aside from the secret ghost language.

Wulf could barely even stumble through the ghost language, though. Esperanto was the only language he could speak fluently. It puzzled all the other residents of the Ghost Zone to no end.

Wulf was a creature of curiosity. Walker wanted him, Skulker would happily take his pelt for his wall, even the Observants were wary of his powers.

But now, no one dared approach him or attack him. They knew better. If the fact that he was Phantom's ally didn't scare them, the fact that the werewolf-like ghost could easily tear their souls from this plane of existence did.


	20. Swap

Their first official team-up goes swimmingly. Valerie looks at Phantom as his green eyes glitter excitedly, Walker being recaptured in the thermos.

Then Phantom turns to her and actually _offers_ the contraption to her. "Here," he says. "You can have it, and shove him back into the Ghost Zone."

She blinks, then shakes her head. "Nah. You keep it. You're better at it than I am, honestly."

Phantom smiles a bit, but fidgets, and then his eyes glow blue – _a familiar blue_ – for a moment, and then a small little icicle is being held out to her.

"Then take this," the ghost tells her, eyes back to their neon green, "as a token of good faith. It won't melt or anything, by the way."

She takes it, slowly, and then smiles back. "Thanks." And then before she really realizes what she's doing, she's offering him a small hand-held ectogun. "Now you take this."

He arches an eyebrow. "Why…? I mean, I have my ectoblasts-"

"Just take it, Phantom." She forces his fingers – which are cold, but not as cold as some of the other ghosts she's touched – to close around it, and offers a smile. "It's a fair swap. Just in case and whatever."

He smiles again, and she thinks to herself that they really do make a great team.


	21. Dress Up

They've all dressed up as Danny at least once. Tucker has also dressed up as Sam, and Jazz is fairly certain Sam dressed up as Tucker once as well.

But Danny is always in the clear – usually the one the others are covering for, in fact.

Forcing him to dress up in their outfits might be a petty method for vengeance, but oh how revenge is sweet.


	22. Music (Talent Trade)

Ember has always loved music.

Her guitar is part of her soul, especially now, and music is the one thing that has always helped her push on.

She only ever wanted to give people beautiful music to listen to.

Death is a cruel, twisted mistress to twist her pure intentions so.


	23. Clockwork (Favorite AU)

Clockwork stares into his endless windows and sees everything. The world as it once was, as it is, as it will be, and all the possible in-betweens if one thing or another were to go slightly off its set path.

The Observants are the only thing restraining his power – or so they believe. He isn't stupid. He realizes the gravity of his powers.

Still, as he touches the time-window, he shivers at the weight of all the things that _might be, _that _could have been_, that _never will be_. And he trembles under the weight of the enormous power he has – the fact that if he wanted to, he could change one little detail and set everything on a new course.

_Like with Danny and Dan_.

He has only ever worked for good, he thinks, but he cannot recall all of time. The Observants have some limited telepathic abilities, and could possibly have mind-wiped him at one point and blocked all viewing of his past.

All he remembers is this. He had no beginning, he simply…was.

(It unnerves him. All ghosts have beginnings, including himself, and not even a mind-wipe could make them forget that. He thus wonders _why_ it is the one thing he has never been able to see.)


	24. Jack

Jack Fenton is not a bumbling idiot.

Well, okay, he's large and thus sometimes bumbles about, and occasionally (often) he gets side-tracked and his train of thought goes straight through the window, but he's more than just that.

He's the one who designed the portal, after all.

Jack Fenton was brilliant in college, could often pull 100's if he studied hard enough and wasn't too busy working on his next great invention or chatting with Vlad about his theories. Later, though, when Maddie entered the scene, it opened up a whole slew of other problems.

He and Maddie never visited Vlad in the hospital, after all, but they did send cards. If Jack had to site the reason why Vlad seemed to hate him every time they saw each other after that, he always blamed that.

But Maddie captured his attention and he would admit, it was his enthusiasm and distractedness that had caused the accident in the first place. He hadn't meant to hurt anyone, though. It had just…happened.

But Jack Fenton is not a bumbling idiot.

Jack Fenton is a scientist, an inventor, and if he's a little distracted then that's fine, but he is more than what he appears to be.


	25. A-Listers

Paulina doesn't want anyone to know, but she's acing her Spanish class. Certainly it has everything to do with her Latina heritage and nothing to do with the class itself, but she's still not one to tell others about it.

Dash won't tell anyone about his study sessions with Jazz. At first it was just because he liked her and thought she was cute, but she made her feelings clear soon enough. He still goes, though, because now he actually has a genuine interest in math and science.

Kwan secretly loves poetry. Not gothic poetry, of course, but anything that strikes him at the time. He can usually get by English class writing B-average papers on poems as well.

Star feels left out, occasionally. She would tell any incoming freshman to stay out of the A-Listers club, if they could. It's not all it's cracked up to be. She has to dress like this and act like that, and she isn't allowed to participate in the theater classes she desperately wants to take. (She goes to them anyway, she just never performs anymore.)

And Valerie? Valerie is glad she got kicked out, looking back now. She deserved better than that; people who were true to themselves and looked beyond the exterior to who a person was.

The A-Listers are an illusion, a façade. After all, their beauty is really only skin deep.


	26. Mentor

_"Everyone needs a coach, a mentor."_

The words of Chris Herren echo in his head. The former basketball star had given such a speech at his school, and most of the class was still shell-shocked.

But those are the words he is stuck on.

He's never had a mentor to guide him, and truthfully it doesn't appear as if any ghosts have ever mentored or taught another. Certainly the only humans he looks up to are his friends and parents, but a mentor is something different from that.

Vlad could have been his mentor, if he hadn't always been so obsessed with stealing his mom and destroying his dad.

He's not sure if Frostbite is considered a mentor. The yeti-like ghost helped him with his powers, but they rarely spoke now. And none of the other ghosts would ever give him the opportunity.

Well…except…

"Danny?"

"Clockwork? I…would you be my mentor?"

* * *

(Chris Herren quote from a speech the aforementioned man gave at my school a few weeks ago. It stuck with me and I wanted to incorporate it here.)


	27. Favorite Power

The haunting wails of ghosts terrified him for years.

Now he's got all their power, able to be released in a single scream.

It would be kind of cool, if it weren't for the fact that he had to turn evil to unlock it.


	28. Malfunction

"Crap – Tucker, fix it, fast!"

"I can't! I don't have – shoot!"

Cackling laughter filled the air as the broken thermos lay on the ground, dozens of ghosts spilling out of it and swirling overhead, ready to strike. Three pairs of eyes went wide, and they gulped simultaneously.

"There was a hard drive malfunction."

"Great."


	29. Box Ghost

He doesn't know why he's so attached to boxes.

It could be due to the fact that he doesn't remember a single detail of his life. Perhaps he died in a warehouse, or perhaps he was a deliveryman for a living. Either way, boxes played into it somehow.

They must have. A ghost obsesses over an unfulfilled desire or an object. Boxes were part of his life, somehow.

No one takes him seriously because of it, though.

Someday, maybe, he'll prove them all wrong.


	30. OC

He froze as the ghost (halfa, he corrected himself, he'd just seen her transform) suddenly paused, pointed ear twitching. He shuddered despite being invisible against the wall – those ears reminded him of Vlad, and so did her fangs as he caught sight of them when she turned around.

She opened her mouth a little, and her nostrils flared, and suddenly Danny wondered why he was still here. Her senses were even more heightened than his – she could _smell_ him!

Then her glowing aqua eyes with pupils like a snake's locked onto his, and he froze again, body refusing to move despite the fact that he was still invisible and could still slip away without having to fight.

"I know you're there." The accent he'd come to know and love from this girl sounded almost sinister on this tongue, and he hated it because he _still_ wasn't sure what was going on, whether or not this was all a dream created by Nocturne. "Show yourself."

He hesitated a moment too long, perhaps, because her eyes narrowed and flashed and all of a sudden he was being slammed into the back wall, invisibility quickly fading away. The girl (Aleta, he told himself, Aleta _why you?_) snarled, her sharp canines bared, and this close he could see something dripping from them – and he realized with a start that it was venom. (Like a cobra, his mind supplied, or a viper, able to kill in minutes.)

She was taking in deep breaths now, scenting him again, and he watched her eyes carefully as she froze, death grip on him loosening and the claws that had been digging into his shoulder retracted.

"You," she breathed, stepping back and letting him drop to the ground. Her hair – the normally brown hair he loved, the hair that was now a strange aquamarine color – blew in a faint breeze, then dropped in front of the eyes that had the same color as her human form. "Danny Fenton. Y-you…_you're_ Phantom?"

Danny licked his lips, green eyes now looking anywhere but hers. "A-Aleta…I…"

She gulped. "Calebra," she whispered. "Spanish for _snake_."

He shook his head, stepping back. "Aleta…how…" It was too confusing, and he couldn't think of what to do.

She kicked a foot, covered in a knee-length green boot, against a pebble in the alleyway. "I could ask you the same question. You're not…really hurting people, are you? Like the news always says?"

Danny shook his head again, unable to say anything, and watched, still frozen in shock, as she smiled faintly with pained eyes, fangs no longer looking wicked. "Good enough for me. Stay safe, _amigo_."

Aleta disappeared with a flick of a tail more snake-like than ghostly, and Danny wondered why things like this kept happening to him.


	31. Free Day

A/N: Thanks to all who have supported this story thus far. We're at the end now. I hope you've enjoyed these little phanniemay drabbles.

* * *

They all have reasons to hate him.

Walker's prison was in shambles. Aragon lost his kingdom. Skulker walked on thin ice with his oldest business partner Vlad Plasmius. Spectra couldn't maintain a human-like form. Ghostwriter had lost a poem he'd worked on for months. And so on and so forth.

But they also owe him their afterlives.

Clockwork and Frostbite should hate him, but don't because of all he has done to protect the Ghost Zone. Johnny and Kitty appreciate him respecting their wish to just get on with their lives. Dora is grateful for the peace he restored to the kingdom. Wulf appreciates his freedom.

Deep down, all the ghosts respect him because of his triumph over Pariah Dark.

The little halfa messes with their existence far too often, but at the same time he fights for their right to even exist and for their equality in the real world.

(Maybe, Poindexter had suggested once, maybe Phantom forced them back into the Zone to protect them from the crazy humans. Murmured consent passed through the ghosts, but no one was going to just thank the halfa for it.)

Daniel Fenton, aka Danny Phantom, is a huge pain in their sides. But he tries, and beneath the exterior hate they owe him their gratitude.

After all, without him they'd never even have had the chance to explore the world they once loved too.


End file.
